Eduqas A-Level Computer Science A500QS
Data Structures: Arrays, Records and Hash Tables
Stacks, Queues, Linked Lists and Trees
Boolean Logic and Simplification
Algorithms, Pseudo-Code and Programming Constructs
Variables, Scope, Parameters and Identifiers
Recursion and Modular Programming
Sorting Algorithms
Searching and Shortest-Path Algorithms
Big O Notation and Algorithm Efficiency
Validation, Verification and Testing
Data Compression
Programming Paradigms and Computer Languages
Systems Analysis, Maintenance and Documentation
System Design and Human-Computer Interaction
Software Engineering Tools and Translators
Computing, Society and the Law
Computer Architecture, the Processor and Assembly Language
Input, Output and Secondary Storage
Networks, Protocols and the Internet
Data Transmission and Network Performance
Number Systems and Binary Arithmetic
Data Types, Characters and Floating Point
Files, Records and File Organisation
Databases, Normalisation and Entity Modelling
SQL, Big Data and Distributed Systems
The Operating System and Its Modes
Interrupts, Memory Management and Scheduling
Types of Software System
Data Security, Cryptography and Attack
Data Types, Characters and Floating Point
Converting between real numbers and floating point
- 3 things to know
- Component 2
Overview
Turning a real number into a normalised mantissa and exponent and back again, worked in one stated format throughout, with the normalisation rule that fixes the mantissa.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Describe the steps for converting a positive real number to normalised floating point.
Convert 5.5 to a 12-bit format with an 8-bit mantissa and a 4-bit exponent.
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Describe the steps for converting a positive real number to normalised floating point.
Model answer
The number is first written in binary, then the binary point is moved to sit just after the sign bit. The number of places moved becomes the exponent.
- 2
Convert 5.5 to a 12-bit format with an 8-bit mantissa and a 4-bit exponent.
Model answer
Denary 5.5 is 101.1 in binary, which normalises to 0.1011 × 2³. The mantissa is 01011000 and the exponent is 0011.
- 3
Convert 0.375 to the same 12-bit format.
Model answer
Denary 0.375 is 0.011 in binary, which normalises to 0.11 × 2⁻¹. The mantissa is 01100000 and the exponent is 1111.
- 4
State the value of the floating point number with mantissa 01101000 and exponent 0010.
Model answer
The mantissa 0.1101 is 0.8125 and the exponent is 2. The value is 0.8125 × 4, which is 3.25.
- 5
State the value of the floating point number with mantissa 01000000 and exponent 0101.
Model answer
The mantissa 0.1 is 0.5 and the exponent is 5. The value is 0.5 × 32, which is 16.
- 6
Convert −5.5 to the same 12-bit format.
Model answer
The mantissa for positive 5.5 is 01011000, whose two's complement is 10101000. The exponent stays 0011, so −5.5 is the mantissa 10101000 with exponent 0011.
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